Thursday, November 24, 2016

We,
the undersigned civil society organizations, strongly condemn the
detention of the chairperson of Bersih 2.0, Maria Chin Abdullah, on 18
November 2016 for 28 days under the new Internal Security Act (ISA) –
the draconian Security Offence (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA).

We
reiterate that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of
expression of the people are guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.
The Bersih 5 rally had been very peaceful and conducted without any
untoward incidents despite repeated violence and provocation from the
red shirts before the rally. The act of the police in arresting leaders
of civil society movements and opposition parties before they could
exercise their constitutional rights is not only mala-fide, but also a
blatant abuse of powers in violation of the Federal Constitution.

We
are further outraged with the use of the draconian SOSMA against Maria
Chin Adullah. When SOSMA was legislated in 2012 to replace the infamous
ISA which was abolished after widespread opposition from the people, the
government assured the public that the new legislation that gave
extensive powers to the police would only be used against terrorists and
that “no person shall be arrested and detained for his or her political
beliefs and activities.” Those members of parliament that ignored the
criticism of the civil society and passed the law should now be held
accountable.

Clearly,
Maria Chin Abdullah is no terrorist. The use of SOSMA against Maria
Chin Abdullah to stop her from leading the Bersih 5 rally, and
previously against Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang to stop them
from lodging complaints of corruption in 1MDB overseas, have proven
that when such a powerful legislation is given to the government, it
will not hesitate to use it to cover-up the abuse of powers and
corruption in the government.

We
reiterate our concerns that the prolonged 28 days of detention under
the SOSMA with limited access to legal representation and family is a
blatant violation of international human rights laws. The International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that no one should be
subject to arbitrary arrest and detention and that anyone arrested or
detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before a judge
or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall
be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to be released.

The
28 days of prolonged detention without judicial oversights such as
disallowing the detainees to have access to lawyers and family members
will only facilitate the practice of torture, either mental or physical
or both.

We
condemn the use of a secret detention place by the police in detaining
Maria Chin. The use of secret detention center is totally unacceptable
in a civilized society. All detention centers must be made public and
subject to public scrutiny to ensure that they are operated in
accordance to the law and the rights of the detainees.

We
are therefore extremely concerned with the mental and physical
wellbeing of Maria Chin Abdullah who is being held in solitary
confinement in a cell with no windows and where the lights are kept on
for 24 hours. Such detention environment is inhumane and constitutes a
form of torture under international human rights laws.

We demand the release of Maria Chin Abdullah immediately and unconditionally.

We demand that Maria Chin Abdullah have unlimited access to lawyers and her family members whilst she is still under detention

We
demand that the authorities preserve and ensure the mental and physical
wellbeing of Maria Chin Abdullah while in detention and that she is
accorded prompt medical treatment when required.

We
call on the National Human Rights Commission to visit Maria Chin
Abdullah regularly at the secret detention place to ensure her rights
and wellbeing.

We
call upon the Inspector General of Police to be more professional and
transparent to uphold the law and demand the government to abolish the
draconian SOSMA.

Number of Visits

By 15th June 2008, we 1,328,396 visits...and by 2010, we would have easily crossed the 2 million mark..We started counting visits again in May 2010, and soon we expect to be crossed the million mark yet again. As such, we have had over 3 million visits to our site. On an average, we have about 700-750 visits per day.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement..

I believe in the freedom of expression - and everyone is free to use, reproduce, quote, copy and circulate, etc... materials published here. Please credit the source: http://charleshector.blogspot.com/.

For those of you who do have Blogs/Websites, it would be good if you could add a link to CHARLES HECTOR Blog. Please do promote the BLOG.

Anonymous comments or those containing profanities and obscenities (or irrelevant matters) will be rejected.